A short history lesson: Many may not know that the U.S. Constitution contains a Bill of Rights. Those rights contained therein are what is known as the ‘enumerated rights”, unalienable rights, granted by our creator, reserved to the people and not to be interfered with by government. Rights such as your right to self defense, defense against a tyrannical federal or state government, contained in the Second Amendment. Another right enumerated in the Bill of Rights is the First Amendment, the right to free speech. The First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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It’s looking like spying on your library card, and illegal warrant less wiretaps was not enough, so now we need spies to look into the economy. And what do the lefties say about this? —- crickets chirping —- What are the limits of the spying? Does anyone care? Hello, hello, hello — Is that you ACLU, sitting quietly in the corner.

The president and his CIA chief seem to be reading Foreign Policy Magazine, which recently suggested that the incoming administration change the nature of the daily intelligence updates to the White House. CIA Director Leon Panetta today told reporters that his agency was producing, at the request of the Obama administration, a new “economic intelligence brief” and distributing it to key policymakers.

It’s a good thing, since Panetta doesn’t know much about terror, intelligence, spying or the CIA, so at least he has something to do.

Reflecting the comments of the director of national intelligence, who called the economic crisis a serious national security threat, the new brief will focus on global economic issues, Panetta says. “It will cover overseas developments, economic, political, leadership developments,” he says. “Obviously, the implications in terms of the U.S. economy will be analyzed as well.”

The first EIB was sent out today to “key players” in the administration. They spying on Rush too? When do we get the NYTimes EIB leaks — They are still in business aren’t they.

It’s common knowledge that you can’t be liberal and rational at the same time. When did the economy become a national security risk? Presto change-O, anything Obama says is now a security risk, like global warming, is now a security risk.

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The Acting President Obama’s Administration released its FY 2010 budget today, it’s all an act really, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) warned taxpayers that “the era of big government is back, and Democrats want you to pay for it.” In 2009, federal spending will approach $4 trillion, or 28 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) – a one-third increase in the size of government in a single year.

The budget released by the White House today is loaded with job-killing tax hikes and a slate of even more government spending. Overall, the blueprint projects a record $1.75 trillion deficit this year while doubling the national debt over the next ten years. Following are just 10 fast facts about the Administration’s budget, which our children and grandchildren will be paying for far into the future:

1. The Administration’s projected budget deficit of $1.75 trillion is higher than the last five years of deficits combined, and under this plan, we will see three consecutive trillion dollar deficits between now and FY 2012.

2. While it was purported to cut the budget deficit in half – from $1.75 trillion in 2009 to $533 billion by 2013 – this budget projects higher deficits in 2014 ($570 billion), 2015 ($583 billion), and 2016 ($637 billion). In 2019, the final year in the budget, the deficit is projected to be $712 billion.

3. Including the recently-enacted trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill, discretionary spending will soar by 24 percent this year under this budget.

4. The budget projects that the national debt will increase from $8.4 trillion in 2009 to $15.4 trillion in 2019.

5. The Administration’s budget contains $1.4 trillion in tax increases – tax hikes that will impact everyone, from small businesses, charities, and seniors to everyone who owns a 401(k) and anyone who flips on a light switch.

6. After promising that he will reduce taxes on 95 percent of Americans, the Administration’s budget establishes a $646 billion energy tax hike that will impact anyone who uses electricity, drives a car, or relies on energy in any way.

7. This budget forecasts more than $1.5 trillion in new health care spending, including a 10-year, $634 billion a health care “reserve fund.” The budget also calls for seven percent annual growth in Medicare and more than six percent annual growth in Medicaid over the next 10 years.

8. The budget includes a $750 billion placeholder for a second round of spending under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), even though the first round of TARP spending is not yet finished, nor is there a clear explanation of how funds under the initial round was spent.

9. The Administration’s budget claims that reducing the number of troops in Iraq over the next 10 years will cut the deficit by $1.6 trillion; however, that is only because the budget allocates the same amount of funds for the Iraq war each year over the next decade, even though most combat troops may be withdrawn during the next 19 months. The savings are, at best, deceptive.

10. The budget provides a scant 2.9 percent pay raise for military personnel as required by law, less than a week after Democrats in Congress provided the necessary funding to implement District of Columbia locality pay for overseas Foreign Service officers, which would constitute an 18 percent pay increase.

As failed President FDR found out, the result of government jobs all have the same end point, the unemployment line when the money runs out. The debt will be monetized, that means the dollar value will fall.

Oh yeah, they say the need another 3/4 $ trillion for more bank bailots.

First, Steve Goddard’s Venus analogy needs some addition and clarification — Venus is much closer to the sun, and has no magnetic field, therefore no magnetosphere. That key point differentiates Venus from Earth and in my opinion, invalidates any comparison of atmosphere’s of the two planets. The Earth’s magnetosphere plays a huge part in protecting Earth’s atmosphere from the Sun’s direct radiation and solar wind. On Venus, it follows, that the solar wind combined with direct radiation from the Sun, has very likely “blown away” all of the lighter atmospheric molecules once contained there. This has left Venus with a very dense atmosphere containing only the heaviest molecules, hugging the surface, containing mostly carbon dioxide, a little sulfuric acid and some nitrogen.

In addition, it should be noted, different planets of our Solar System receive direct radiation from the Sun of an intensity inversely proportional to the square of their distance from the Sun. Venus is about 72% the distance from the sun as the Earth, making direct solar radiation on Venus about double what it is on Earth. The brutal effects of being so close to the sun, obviously has taken a toll on the atmosphere of Venus, and forced an outcome that would not necessarily have been, given different planetary circumstances.

A second point, caused by my first — Venus totally lacks any organic carbon cycle that can lock carbon back into it’s soil and surface features. Venus does not have any organic life to absorb carbon in biomass. Earth’s vast biomass, on land and in the oceans, removes huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and depositing it in various solid forms, on Earth’s surface.

And a third point, again, caused by my first — Venus lacks the mechanism for water vapor and atmospheric CO2 to combine. The lack of liquid water on Venus’ surface means no meaningful weather as we know it on Earth exists on Venus. Since CO2 is soluble in water, and the atmospheric concentration of water vapor on Venus is exceedingly low, this completely removes the possibility for CO2 to find it’s way to the oceans, combine with other chemicals in the ocean to make rocks, CaCO3 in particular. This weather induced carbon cycle, which would lock carbon in rocks, does not exist on Venus.

There is no reasonable way to compare Venus to the Earth. The differing distance from the sun, and the lack of a meaningful magnetosphere is enough to make any comparison in my opinion, totally invalid. It may be possible to theorize that if Earth had no magnetosphere, Earth could be compared to Venus — But would we be here to draw that comparison? Or you could look back in time to what Venus might have once been, and what it has now become, once it’s magnetic core ceased to exist. Both examples exhibit speculation, to questions no one has any way of answering.

In closing — Venus’ future was predictable, when it’s planetary magnetosphere went away.

PS: Yes, I know that Al Gore tried to use this point point about Venus in his chalk talk to Congress a few weeks back, and no one there refuted his obvious falsehoods. Too bad, it was an opportunity missed.

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Google is the latest Web browser maker to join the plaintiff’s side in a European Commission (EC) complaint against Microsoft’s Internet Explorer distribution practices. In its public policy blog on Tuesday, Google said it wants to join as a third party in the EC’s proceeding.

The complaint was originally brought before the EC by Opera Software, which said that Microsoft’s practice of bundling Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system was anticompetitive behavior. Oslo, Norway-based Opera makes a competing browser that runs on Windows.

The gang is growing, now every major browser is represented except Apple’s Safari.